Expansion repair plate for worn railway ties



June 3, 1947. J. H. DOOLING EXPANSION REPAIR PLATE FOR WORN RAILWAY TIESFiled Jan. 15, 1944 INVENTOR. J77. 5004 ave. BY f7 Patented June 3, 1947EXPANSION REPAIR PLATE or. WORN RAILWAY TIES John H. Dooling, Fitchburg,Mass assignor of one-half to Louis J. OMalIy,;Newton,.Mass.

Application January 15, 1944,301ialNo. 518,315

2 Claims.

This invention relates toexpansion bearing plates forrepairing worn andout areas in'railwayties.

Objects of the invention include the provision of a flexible repair. padto replace therwood'fiber destroyed in ties due to the downward cuttingand abrasive action caused by the action of metal tie plates underdynamic and impact loads of heavy locomotives and loaded cars moving athigh speeds; the provisionof a repair pad as aforesaid embodying meanscapable of expanding laterally under pressure to fill and conform to thelimits of the depression in the tie caused by wear of the tie plate andto* assume all perishable aspects due to wear formerly imposed on thetie itself; and the provision'of an expansion repair plate comprising aplurality of laminations impregnated-with a preservative substance'of afiowable nature which will exude laterally; under operating pressures tofill the worntie depression in addition to the lateral expansion of thebody ofgthe repair'plate.

Further objects of the invention include generally' the provision ofmethod and meansifor applying fiowable pitchy tie preservativematerialtothe depression worn in railway ties by the tie. plates,so as totightly seal all jagged edges and: crevices of the depressions and toutilize a repair pad to supply a bearing. surface 'forthe replaced tieplate, the pressure of the trains pro.- ceeding on the rails forcing thepreservative material into the wood to complete the repair of the worntie.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 isa view partly in section showing a form of the invention as applied to aworn railway tie;

Fig. 2 is a plan View of a form of the expansion repair plate; and

Fig. 3 is an enlarged side elevationalview of the plate of Fig. 2.

As is well known in the art, railway tie plates wear depressions and cutinto the ties due to vibration in the rails and the fact that dirt andsand, etc., creep in between the tie plate and the tie, resulting in themechanical wear of the tie. Also decay and vermin will add to thedeterioration of the wood. The depression or hole worn and cut into thetie is larger in area than the bearing surface of the tie plate becauseof the above mentioned vibration. This invention contemplates anexpansion repair plate of a size substantially; the same as the tieplate and thus smaller-than the depression in the tie, whichrepair'platei'sset into; thewornholeand as explained" below absorbs thesubsequent'wearing action and replacing the wood fiber: destroyed so asto render the tie fitfOl further-use, avoiding the necessity of"renewing. thetie. The presentinventionis in: nosense a device forapplicationito anew. tie but: is a repair device only.

In'Figilhthere isr'shown atie ID; a rail l2 seated in atie plate I4 andsecured by railway tie spikes: l6; As shown; the illustrated tie hasbeen. worn'andfcut down in the region of the tie plate M asindicated inFig. 1. Constant shifting and vibration of the rail andftie plate underthe impact of. heavy locomotive and moving trains has not only worn orcut'a hole in the tie, but has made as hole larger in the tie plate.

The edges of the WOIll' hole obviously will be jagged and formed withcrevices due to the wearing and the Weathering of the Wood. The breaksand crevices permit the entrance of vermin and bacteria Which greatlyaccelerate the deteriorationof the tie. It willbe clear that i'n duetime the tie will become unusable unless the wear is stopped;

The present expansion repair and bearing'plate comprises a plurality oflaminations which may be formed of woven material, jute, asbestos, orother material, such as thin plastic sheets, etc. The material is firstimpregnated with a Wood preservingmaterial which is flowable undercertain pressur'eand temperature conditions. Such preservativesubstances appliedare pitch;- asphalt, resins, mastic, plaster, or thelikeybut in any case the laminations are thoroughly impregnated, orcoated in the case of plastic sheet or sheets, and then assembled into apad or plate, and rolled and pressed to form a relatively stiff padwhich, however, also has flexible properties under conditions ofpressure.

The plate so made may be reinforced as by stitching 22 or by wire meshor other means, and holes 24 are punched for the accommodation of thespikes.

Regardless of the material of the expansion repair plate, the individuallaminations of the finished plate will be resistant to or impervious tothe passage of the preservative material after pressing and rolling,

A plate as above described is inserted, as shown in Fig. 1, under thetie plate l4 and will thus be located in the depression [8 with itsedges stopping short of the limits of the depression.

area than As trains travel on the rails, pressure will be transmitted tothe plate and this will cause the tie preservative to exude or flow frombetween the laminations so as to fill up the remainder of the depressionas indicated at 26. Also the pressure of the rail will cause the plate20 to further compress and expand approximately as shown in dotted linesat 28 in Figs. 2 and 3. It will thus be seen that a double action isproduced to fill the depression l8 and to seal off its ja ed edges andcrevices.

The expansion repair plate may be made of alternate layers 30 of onetype of fabric, such as cotton, with layers of another type of material,such as wool, interposed; and it is preferred that the weave of thefabric should be diagonally disposed to overcome the normal friction andthread fatigue produced in a fabric by heat generated betweenlaminations and cohesion, which when the pressures are released, causesfriction by pulling the threads apart.

The method may also be carried out by app y-- ing the tie preservativedirectly to the depression and placing thereon a plate of the naturedescribed, similar repair results being also beneficially occasionedthereby.

It will be clear from the above that this invention provides a laminatedrepair expansion and bearing plate incorporating a fiowable woodpreservative having a viscosity permittin the latter to flow or exudelaterally outwardly from between the laminations as pressure is appliedand at proper temperatures in sufiicient quantity to fill all openingsand to seal ofi jagged or crevice areas tightly and completely. It is tobe noted that in the manufacture, allowance can be made easily toprovide enough preservative for this use; in fact a surplus is preferredsince too much preservative will not adversely afi'ect the results.Also, the worn depressions are obviously not all of one size, but arepair plate the size of the tie plate accomplishes the desired resultsperfectly, as the depressions are always larger than the tie plate.

When a repair plate of the nature described becomes compressed, afterlong usage, to a point where it begins to fail to carry out its purpose,a new repair plate may be inserted therein, as the old repair plateforms a pocket about the size of the tie plate for reception of a newrepair plate.

- Certain subject matter disclosed herein is being claimed in acopending application No. 633,- 716, filed Dec. 8, 1945 of the sameinventor.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do notwish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than asset forth in the claims, but what I claim is:

1. An expansible repair plate adapted to be inserted upon a wooden tiebeneath a metal tie plate to fill an area which has been worn by themetal tie plate, said repair plate comprising a preformed flexible matof a size initially slightly less than the worn area, and consisting ofa plurality of layers of fabric material, each of said layers beingcoated with a mastic wood preserving material adapted to be extrudedlaterally from between the layers and beyond the fabric by downwardpressure upon the mat when in use beneath the tie plate so as tocompletely fill the worn area.

2. An expansible repair plate adapted to be inserted upon a wooden tiebeneath a metal tie plate to fill an area which has been worn by themetal tie plate, said repair plate comprising a preformed flexible matof a size initially slightly less than the worn area, and consisting ofa plurality of layers of fibrous base material, each of said layersbeing coated with fiowable pitchy material adapted to be extrudedlaterally from between the layers and beyond the fabric by downwardpressure applied to the mat when in use beneath the tie plate so as tocompletely fill the worn area.

JOHN H. DOOLING.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PA'I'ENTS Number Name Date 1,905,397 Reynolds Apr, 25,1933 491,092 Eaton Feb. 7, 1893 695,429 Gombar Mar. 11, 1902 1,128,048Robbins Feb. 9, 1915 2,155,155 Stedman Apr. 18, 19 39 2,277,808 WoodMar. 31, 1942 1,769,630 Fischer July 1, 1930 1,961,077 .Pater May 29,1934 2,352,314 Fischer June 27, 1944 1,780,396 Kirkbride Nov. 4, 19301,413,085 Wells Apr. 18, 1922 1,765,796 Kirschbraun June 24, 19301,168,083 Lewis Jan. 11, 1916 445,325 Wilson Jan. 27, 1891 1,610,379Hooper Dec. 14, 1926 952,591 Ulrich Mar. 22, 1910 FOREIGN PATENTS NumberCountry Date 669,003 France Nov. 9, 1929 223,956 Great Britain 2 July20, 1923

